“Get ready Nashville and New York — it looks like you’re about to have your own recorded-music boom,” reads a joint statement from the Recording Industry Association of America, A2IM and the Music Artists Coalition.
Friday, September 13, 2019
The Music Biz Will Split From California If The New ‘Gig Law’ Sticks, Warn Artist And Label Groups
“Get ready Nashville and New York — it looks like you’re about to have your own recorded-music boom,” reads a joint statement from the Recording Industry Association of America, A2IM and the Music Artists Coalition.
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This is a really interesting situation for the music industry. For a lot of people this willful misclassification of workers is working for both artists and producers in the industry and for many companies I can see how this would be beneficial. And moving to another state may have to be the solution for a lot of companies but I also wonder how many companies can while still staying afloat or how many independent artists want to uproot their lives and careers in pursuit of better pay structures. What I think the likely solution will end up being is the destruction of some of the large companies and smaller groups in the music industry in favor of people working on their own or for themselves opening the industry to either more backhanded work or a more spread out and complicated structure. Whatever the solution may be it won’t be simple for a lot of people it will effect most if not all the industry no matter what the outcome ends up being.
This article is really interesting as the bill hurts and helps the music business and industry simultaneously. Independent artists can now have insurance and benefits that independent contractors normally wouldn't. However, that puts a strain on companies and labels, who now might be less inclined to use independent artists and musicians. The article brought up the use of computers and how labels might use more of them instead of musicians so that they don't have to pay health insurance. Both sides of this issue are understandable and I do not think this bill is the ultimate solution. For one thing, many entities interested in exempting independent musicians and artists were turned away by the AFM without being heard. This can lead to bad blood between the two and not a full representation of everyone. I find it interesting that this bill was initially proposed to help cucumber growers and delivery drivers. How this bill made it's way into California, I have no idea. But the fact remains now that politicians are going to have to listen to musicians if they want to compromise and pass this bill.
I think this article is really interesting. I’m not one who follows the music industry very closely, but it makes me sad that this bill is being pushed. I think there are both fully employed and freelance positions for a reason, because it allows for different types of art to be created. But I do see the other perspective, that even freelancers should be given security with insurance and other benefits. Growing up in Memphis, I closely watched the music industry in Nashville grow. When I was little, Nashville was just beginning to blow up as pop-country music became popular. The increase in the music scene helped Nashville to boom as a city, so I’m very curious to see how it continues to progress if musicians do pack up and take their work to cities other than California.
This rabbit hole went much farther than the title implied. Musicians and the music industry in California would be greatly affected, yes, but there is so much more to it than that. The entire California AB-5 bill would have a major impact throughout the entirety of the state, not just in the music and recording industry. Independent contractors often struggle enough just to get by, but this bill would make employment even more difficult for these people who are just scraping by. This bill also seems pretty unfair to me. There are a handful of exemptions to this ridding of independent contractors, including lawyers, doctors, dentists, and other high-profile, high-earning professionals. Granted, it would be harder to establish local practices and specialist practices. But those who can much more easily find employment, and profit much more, are the ones exempted from the bill. Those who are known to struggle to get by in most cases are not.
I’m not sure why the Music industry is fighting against things like a fair wage. I’m also not sure why someone such as a lawyer is exempt from this bill. Lawyers are not independent contractors. They either join already established law firms or they start their own. An independent contractor is a person who owns their own business, has no employees, and so forth. Medical offices are not independent contractors. This bill is designed to protect people like Uber drivers to help guarantee things like a living wage. It there are no exemptions for music professionals, it’s because music professionals walked away from the negotiating table. They have a powerful lobby group and could have very easily gotten some type of exemption written in that would have satisfied these collaborators had AFM stayed at the table. But AFM is to blame on this one, not the state of California or this bill. It will be interesting to see how this law affects the industry, but right now I think that AFM is in league with the newspapers and others who are “against” this law and are only sabre rattling to scare people away from supporting something that could be good for Californians.
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